Antonio Esfandiari, 33, now sits atop the all-time tournament poker earnings list, and he's going to remain there for a very long time.

That's what happens when you take down the $1 million buy-in “Big One for One Drop” at the World Series of Poker and are awarded a tower of money — $100 bills stacked in $10,000 bundles — that stands nearly 5 feet high and has the width of a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Esfandiari's $18,346,673 prize was not only a poker record, but a sum that exponentially eclipses every championship in sports.

Wimbledon, the crown jewel of the professional tennis circuit, awarded its 2012 champions $1,785,950.

While it doesn't take a genius to forecast that a $1 million buy-in event was going to create a large prize pool, the enormity of the event was unexpected.

There are plenty of wealthy people in this world who have the ability to pluck down a million or more on frivolous items, but there are few who make their living at a poker table.

Guy Lalibert, who created the event with a portion of the prize pool dedicated to his One Drop charity, has a nice side job. He created the popular Cirque du Soleil, a performance arts series that has made him a genuine Las Vegas billionaire.

The concept of proper bankroll management requires a player to have at least 30 buy-ins stashed away for various cash games and tournament buy-ins at similar levels. When you get too far below that number, it's a red flag to consider lowering the stacks. Get above that number, and it may be time to press the action.

Few in poker can afford the $1 million under those parameters. With amplification of so much risk, the 48-player field was shocking.

Many players sold pieces of themselves to get into the tournament, including Esfandiari, who offered shares on a one-to-one payback in a Twitter post. Phil Hellmuth finished fourth and won $2.645 million, but he only owned 15 percent of himself.

It's a common practice in poker that works a lot like the stock market, only with higher risk and higher reward.

Michael Mizrachi won the $50,000 buy-in WSOP Poker Player's Championship, and he applied most of the $1.45 million prize toward his buy-in. He finished out of the money with an early exit.

Esfandiari, who vaulted from 73rd to No. 1 in the money rankings, played a smooth tournament where he remained near the top of the chip counts through all three days of the action. For him, it was just another tournament.

“You get two cards, your opponent gets two cards,” he said. “So you just have to play your chip stack, your position and your player.”

But he wasn't about to deliver the clichéd response in the end that it wasn't about the money when asked what the feeling was like on a scale of one to 10.

“It's like a 182,” Esfandiari said, looking at the mountain of newly won money.